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Knowing this is super important because pretty much everyone in the music game will tell you that a lot of success comes from being in the right circles with the right people...
...but almost nobody tells you how to get in those circles, so I'll tell you right now - it starts with YOU.
Literally... noticed how I started this email?
I started it with the letters "Y-O-U".
That's because people want to know what's in it for them and when you're starting out a conversation talking about yourself (i.e. using the words "I" or "me"), then it's a pretty big turn-off.
I've been dripping this strategy into all of my messaging - from emails to Facebook ads to Instagram posts and everything in between - because people want to know what's in it for them.
Just as Keef said to me in a recent conversation, "it's not about a single strategy or a single ASK, but it's about the overall relationship you build with that person and you're missing what that relationship could potentially offer you when your ASK is focused on getting ONE strategy from someone". 💎
You can check out some more gems 💎 from that conversation that I recorded on the newest episode of the Midi Money Podcast.
Keef talks about reframing the conversation to lead with your personality so that you can close more impactful relationships in your music career so it's definitely worth checking out!
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He thoroughly cares about the people in his circle and about the content he creates, and it's his mission to help everyone in this business level up - no matter where they're at.
And personally, I think that's HUGE.
How many artists do you know that never give back to the fans that brought them the successes they always dreamed of❓
What about the producers who forget about the smaller artists they work with once they go Platinum❓
Or how about the artist manager who's always putting his/her clients on the backburner❓
We've all heard those cliché Music Industry horror stories that sometimes make us second guess why we're even in this business in the first place...
...but industry legends 🐐 like Clinton Sparks are a huge breath of fresh air, which is why I'm begging you to get familiar with him.
He comes from a pretty modest background, but has paved a massive career for himself as an artist and producer, and has worked with some pretty big names like Lady Gaga, Pitbull, and DJ Snake.
Now he's helping people win big in their own music careers with the knowledge he's gained through his career as a successful artist, producer, and entrepreneur.
So whether you're a songwriter, artist manager, singer, producer, DJ, or are just interested in this business as a whole...
...go check out the newest episode of the Midi Money Podcast to learn how Clinton was able to turn his humble beginnings into +3 Billion YouTube views and +75 Million Records sold using passion and empathy, and how you could do the exact same for your career.
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One of the reasons I think he's been able to do this successfully is because he identified a niché pretty early on, which was showing people how to make drill beats.
As drill artists like Pop Smoke started making waves a few years back, Jay realized that there was a demand for drill type beats, which separated him from many of the other producers making generic type beat tutorials on YouTube.
This is one of the reasons why you might see certain producers and entrepreneurs suddenly blow up - they find a niché that's beginning to build momentum and then they capitalize on it. 🤯
So if you wanna learn how to find your own niché that you can start serving right now on YouTube to grow your own music production business, OR you've already found your niché that you'd like to serve and monetize further...
...check out the newest episode of the Midi Money podcast to start using the same strategies that Jay Cactus used to grow a 6-figure business and YouTube channel by making drill-type-beat tutorial videos for music producers.
I hope you get some value out of it!
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But what does "leading with value" look like and why are so many producers and people in our community getting it wrong?
For starters, it doesn't look like this:
"hey I'm a huge fan of your work and wanna work with you at no cost. what can I do for you..."
I get messages like this on Instagram all the time. So does my friend DJ Swivel, who's been able to work with Beyoncé, Jay-z, Kanye, Fabolous, and many other big names.
Swivel told me that he really doesn't know what to do when people send him messages like that because he usually doesn't know what work he needs to give people in the first place.
Instead, to start working with someone you look up to, try offering something upfront at no cost.
More specifically, try to find a hole in someone's business or try to improve on something that that person could be doing better, and then offer something tangible to them.
In my own business, Legion Beats, one of my team members started working with me simply by messaging me some hashtags that were outperforming the ones I was initially using on Instagram.
From there, he started giving me more pointers and tips that would help me improve engagement on my social media account and yielded some pretty good results!
See what I'm talking about?
To get some more ideas on how you can lead with value to start working with more influential people, watch this podcast until the end!
Inside he mentions one way you can lead with value if you want to start working with him too 👀
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In my opinion, being a really good entrepreneur and business owner fundamentally comes down to being really good at solving problems...
Basically seeing holes other people don't see and knowing how to efficiently fill them.
As music producers, we're constantly being bombarded with other people's problems and it's up to us to figure out how to solve them for those people.
One very basic example of this in our everyday lives comes down to making beats: rappers and singers need instrumentals to write over and that's where our job comes in.
But we shouldn't stop there, especially because there are TONS of ways to provide value at a deeper level for the people we work with...
One way Grammy-Winning super producer, !llmind, is doing that is by building a community of creatives with NFT's and web3 technology.
I recently talked to him on my podcast, where he told me he's launching this project called Squad of Knights...
If you follow him on socials, you might've seen him talking about it already, but his idea for this community is pretty next-level if you ask me❗
He's built out NFT's specifically for creators to inspire a community of collaboration and partnered with a bunch of recording studios to help creatives come together.
People who hold his NFT can get studio time at no cost and can network with the people inside his community...
"Need artwork for your next beat tape...❓There are graphic designers inside his private community that can help you with that"
"Need studio time❓ Go record everything you need at one of !llmind's partnered studios..."
The logistics of all of this might sound confusing, especially if you're new to all of this NFT, web3, and metaverse stuff...
...but after seeing what influencers like Gary Vee and Omari MC have done with all this new technology, I had to chat with !llmind to see how music producers in my community can level up with all of this❗
So... we broke it down for you on the newest episode of MidiMoney Podcast.
Also I know I might be a little annoying with all this web3 stuff lately... 😬 but I wanna make sure you're tapped into all of it because it most definitely is the future of the music industry and I want you to be hearing about all of it FIRST before everyone else.
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A lot of musicians don't know how to work the ins and outs of a DAW (like Pro Tools or Ableton), and many vocalists that record themselves daily don't even have time to learn how to engineer at a professional level...
That's actually one of the reasons why I first got started with engineering in the first place...
I really wanted to grow my beat business, but when I was first starting out, engineering in my recording studio was the thing that was providing me with a livable income - not making beats.
And it turns out William had a similar experience when he was first coming up.
I asked him how he was able to bring leads into his studio as a newer engineer and he told me that he used something similar to a referral system...
He offered hole punch cards that would incentivize his clients to come back again and again - for every 10 holes you got punched on your card, you'd get an hour of studio time at no cost.
This system basically made people want to book more time just so they could fill out their cards, which subconsciously made them feel like they were "completing a task".
Pretty smart, right?
During our conversation, William brought up some additional tips for engineers and producers that helped him grow his business to the scale it's at now...
You can use those same tips to bring more rappers and singers into your own business as an entrepreneur and music producer - go check out the newest episode of the Midi Money Podcast!
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Recently he and I have been collaborating on a song contest launch for rappers and singers and have been relying on SMS text messaging for a huge chunk of our revenue.
One strategy we tried out before we launched was using an early-access waitlist to build excitement for our audience.
We let everyone know that they had about a week to get early access, and we did that by sending out a few texts and emails.
Within the first day of opening access, we made over $50,000. Could you believe that?
I attribute a lot of that success to SMS and don't think we could've gotten anywhere close with email alone.
That's because with email, open rates on average are actually pretty low and most people don't read the emails that come into their inboxes.
Yes, emails are still effective and will continue to be for the foreseeable future, but only 20% of people will actually read your emails if you're lucky.
(Personally, I know many people who don't even have their email notifications on and/or have "junk" email addresses that they never check.)
On the other hand, +90% of text messages that are sent are actually read. One of the reasons for that is because people are literally texting all the time - for many, it's their primary form of communication.
When someone sees a text message, there's also a good chance that person is already in their messaging app before the notification pops up - not to mention texts are usually way shorter and take much less time to read than email.
That being said - I personally think SMS is the way forward for entrepreneurial music producers and beat makers.
Wouldn't you agree?
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At face value, they might not seem like they're worth much to most businesses (and to be honest I didn't see much value in them at first either)...
...but after Omari started explaining them to me, it's no surprise why some music producers like himself and Illmind have already started to leverage them.
They're sort of like a stock that you would trade on a stock exchange, but for influencers and creators.
So let's say I created a Creator Coin for my music production business, Legion Beats; if you wanted to support Legion Beats, you would put capital towards the Legion Beats Creator Coin.
The value of the coin goes up and down, kinda like stocks fluctuate in the stock market, but with Creator Coins there's an added incentive for investing.
That's because you can incentivize people who support your Coin, and one way you can do that is by rewarding people and giving them access to special content and deals only they have access to.
Isn't that pretty sweet?
I'd say so - I can't think of many other currencies that have this much power to build brand loyalty.
DISCLAMIER: It's still a very new concept, though!
That's why I highly suggest you start learning about it ASAP so you're ahead of the competition when more people start adopting it.
Start taking your first steps by watching my discussion with Omari in the newest episode of the MM Podcast.
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"I made this 🔥 beat - go download it here!"
"I made this really dope sample pack that you should check out! It's got xyz features and you'd love it!"
Does this look familiar?
These sentences start with "I", which means they're addressing the wrong person!
Instead, you want to address your audience first so that it's clear you're focused on solving their problems. Here's what that might look like 👇
"Do you struggle to find beats and hooks that are mixed well and sound great?"
"Do you have a hard time getting your mixes to sound good because the samples you have don't sound all that great?"
See how using this strategy creates a small shift that reframes the conversation?
It's so effective that it's helped my buddy Bruce Beats make 6 figures in just a few months teaching music theory online to music producers.
He explained to me that putting and addressing your customers' problems first is what gets them interested in your solution (a.k.a. your product).
But that's just one of the many 💎 gems we talked about on the newest episode of the Midi Money Podcast.
Plus Bruce also revealed some of his secret music theory sauce that he applies in his own creative process to pump out more beats faster, so it's definitely worth checking out. 🙌
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